


Claire Dearing: Evolution

by fallofatlas (torviironside)



Category: Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Post-Jurassic World
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-05-31 18:33:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15125423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torviironside/pseuds/fallofatlas
Summary: Claire Dearing has finally given into her attraction to Owen Grady and they're "kind of" a couple. And by "kind of" I mean totally. Claire is coerced (actually threatened) into flying back home to spend Christmas with her sister, brother-in-law and nephews and Owen tags along to meet the family. Claire is hesitant ...about Owen officially meeting her family, about Zach's looming internship with Owen and the Raptor Squad and about her rapidly developing feelings for the raptor handler himself and their rapidly developing relationship ...and then there's the ever looming pressure from her boss Simon Misrani of creating a new asset to add to the park's attractions that leaves Claire, organized and runs-her-life-on-a-strict-schedule Claire feeling overwhelmed and utterly unsure.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As the tags state this is an AU Post-Jurassic World fanfic set a year after what would have been the events of Jurassic World. In this work, the Indominus Rex never broke out of her cage but Claire and Owen still went on a search for the boys as they still took the gyrosphere off of it's designated trail so everything about the boy's developed relationship stays the same. This story might start off a little slow at first as I delve into Claire and her AU post-JW world but I promise the action won't be too far away. Also, I know it's not accurate but since this is fiction I'm taking liberties that Zach is allowed to graduate school early to work on his internship with Owen.
> 
> Also, I might change the title of this at some point. I'm not particularly sold on it's current title so we'll call it a quick decision place holder for the moment.

Claire was organized. Her books were alphabetized by author name, spices in the spice caddy arranged a similar way first by brand and then by spice name. She had a drawer for socks, for bras, for underwear, her suit jackets were on the far left of her closet, shirts and skirts in the middle and pants were neatly folded over hangers to the far right. Her shoes were arranged at the bottom, each pair placed in their matching box. She was not haphazard. She liked control; she thrived on it. Everything had a place in Claire Dearing’s world. A neat, organized place.

Owen Grady was …not. He was not organized — which strikes her as unorthodox considering he’d been in the Navy and last time Claire checked the military were sticklers for organization and order — he was like a tornado in a library. Which is exactly how he’d came into her life …like a tornado. Loud, fast, suddenly and irrevocably there. Impossible to ignore and impossible to resist once caught in it’s powerful winds. 

He left his mark on her apartment in Isla Nublar’s Hilton, evidence that he’d very clearly been there even though he’d left sometime earlier in the morning. Claire knows where she’ll find him: at the Raptor cage. He’s disregarded his clothes from the night before on top of the hamper as opposed to inside it …and though it causes her to gnash her teeth together as she gathers the articles of clothing and drops them inside the plastic hamper she must admit it’s progress. Before they’d agreed on compromise he was inclined to leave clothes exactly where they’d been disregarded the previous night.

They couldn’t be more polar opposites and yet …somehow it worked. There were areas he needed to tighten up in and though she will vehemently deny it in the name of her own pride ( whilst begrudgingly accepting it to be true ) there were areas she could stand to loosen up in. 

Her I-pad jingles and she snatches it up from the end table unlocking it with a swipe of her finger, momentarily confused to see Karen’s face fill up the screen.

“Karen! Hi.” Claire wracks her brain trying to recall if she’d set up an appointment with Karen for a call — it was rare that she ever did things that were not on a schedule in lieu of her organized tendencies. She tries to hide her surprise and runs her fingers through her hair.

“Claire-bear! You’re coming to stay for Christmas right? You didn’t change your mind last minute?” Karen doesn’t dance around the topic and Claire is both glad and regretful for it. Claire wants to protest, to tell Karen that she’d never do that to her but the truth was …she would. She’d been running away from anything stable outside of her job her whole life. The worst part, the part she absolutely could never admit to Karen, was that her boss Simon Masrani had been the one to convince her to take a few days for Christmas off to visit her family …and by convince he’d threatened to fire her if she didn’t. Christmas was actually a fairly busy time at the park, with special events and presents for the dinosaurs ( which usually consisted on special treats but kids and parents ate that stuff up ). 

“Claire you promised…” Karen begins to cry and Claire realized she’s taken too long to answer.

“Karen…” Claire isn’t sure if they’re real tears or those fake tears that Karen was always really good at using to guilt her into things. “Yes, yes, of course I’m coming. I take the first flight tomorrow morning.” Claire assures Karen.

“Okay, good.” Karen recovers with record speed that would make any actress jealous and despite the roll of her eyes Claire can’t help but smile at her oldest sister.

“Is that Aunt Claire?” She hears Gray ask loudly and suddenly Karen’s face is gone and Zach and Gary volley back and forth with “Hey!”s and “I had it first”s for control of the I-pad, eventually begrudgingly agreeing to share it.

“Hi boys.” Claire greets her nephews.

“Is Owen coming with you?” Zach asks before Gray can finish opening his mouth to ask his own question. It was almost surprising to note the change in Zach since their last visit to Isla Nublar and honestly that was saying quite a lot since it had been the first time Claire had seen him in seven years. He had seemed disinterested in the whole experience until he’d met Owen Grady. Since then, his interest in becoming an animal behavioralist had spiked and Owen had agreed to take Zach on as an intern despite Claire’s vocal protests against letting her nephew anywhere near the raptor pack. She only agreed because Owen had sworn he wouldn’t let Zach in the cage and any actual contact he had with the raptors would be when they were in their metal muzzles.

It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Owen and it wasn’t that she wanted to crush Zach’s dream …it was just dangerous. Of course, not any more dangerous than it had been when she’d interned for Bright Minds under Simon Masrani right out of college. She saw that recklessness in Zach and in Gray that she herself had. Karen had always been safe, never wanting to leave home. Her boys had Claire’s sense of adventure, that attraction to recklessness and danger.

“Oh, I don’t —”

“Of course I am.” Claire whips her head around to look over her shoulder, startled, when Owen emerges from the bathroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around his lower torso. Steam unfurls from the bathroom’s sliding door and Claire doesn’t bother to hide her surprise. Surprise that one: she hadn’t even noticed the shower running ( but of course it’s quiet and state of the art ) and that two: Owen had stuck around for so long this morning. It was unusual. Each morning he returned to his bungalow, likely for familiarity since he’d more or less partially moved into her suite. She’s spent the night in his bungalow a few times, simply out of fairness but it’s tiny and completely Owen in how unorganized it is.

Claire needs space. She likes space.

And it’s easier to ignore Owen’s lack of organizational skills when it comes to home-making when Claire has a lot of space to work with.

“What about your raptors?” Claire asks him, her eyes lingering a little too long upon his chest still glistening with droplets of shower water. Owen catches her looking, and wiggles his eyebrows suggestively with a smirk. Claire rolls her eyes but the gesture is purely half-hearted as she looks back at her I-pad screen where her nephew’s faces lingered, giving a soft clear of her throat.

“Barry can handle the girls for a week.” Owen sounds confident as he says it and so Claire has no choice to accept it.

“Yes!” Gray, in his excitement, screams out the word, pumping a fist in the air. Claire winces but offers the younger boy a soft chuckle at his enthusiasm. 

“Ok, Owen and I have to get to work but we’ll see you guys real soon. Kisses. Bye.” Claire ends the FaceTime before Karen can snag the I-pad back from her sons. She closes the case and sets it back down upon the end table, nearly jumping out of her skin as she feels Owen’s arms wrap around her waist. She takes a deep breath that truly has nothing to do with being surprised as his lips find the junction where her ear and neck meet.

“So, you want to get to work here or in my bungalow?” Owen’s chuckle vibrates in his throat, his breath fanning across the sensitive flesh of her neck, rising gooseflesh.

For a moment, Claire is perturbed by how easy she realizes it would be to give into Owen. 

“I’m serious. I have a lot of preparations to make today,” Claire tells him in her best business voice, hoping he does not detect the slight breathlessness in her words. “And you should make the necessary preparations for Barry and Blue.”

“Blue?” Owen barks out an incredulous laugh.

“Yes, Blue. She’s your…what did you call her? Your Beta?”

“What am I supposed to do? Print her out an itinerary?” Own jabs and Claire rolls her eyes, sighs in thinly veiled exasperation and twists in his grip, placing her hands — a dangerous move she realizes the second she does it — on his bare chest.

“You have to let that go.” She tells him with a nod of her head, stretching up on her tiptoes, confident that she’s in control, to press her lips against his.

“I’m never letting that go,” Owen rasps, his hand cupping the back of her head to draw her in for another kiss, taking the control away from her. “It’ll be a funny story to tell our kids someday.” Owen says it so naturally, so carefree that Claire, who recoils at his words, isn’t even sure he realized what he said.

“Yes, well,” Claire blanches and steps away from him, moving to the closet to grab a pair of white heels from their box. She slips them on, adjusts her sharp, white suit jacket and tosses him a tight smile. “I really need to get to work.” She leaves Owen standing in the suite’s bedroom without so much as a look back, jabbing her finger at the elevator’s call button when she steps into the floor’s hallway. 

She wonders, as the glass doors slide open and she steps in, pressing the button for the lobby, if she perhaps took Owen too literal. Likely, it was a phrase used in a casual way; sort of like Karen’s favorite “it’ll get better before you’re married” but Claire does as she always does: habitually shuts herself out of anything that might suggest longterm beyond her job.

Owen is already a selfish distraction she allowed herself; perhaps a mistake of a distraction she thinks as the elevator dings and she steps out into the elevator as the doors part. Zara greets her with a cup of coffee which Claire takes with a brisk ‘thanks’ and power-walks out of the lobby, traversing effortlessly through the eager crowds of people ready to start their days at the Park with Zara hurrying after her to keep up.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So in actuality I'm still writing what was supposed to be Chapter Two but because it wound up being much longer than I initially anticipated I decided to split it in half into Chapters Two and Three. I'm putting up the first half as Chapter Two today and Chapter Three should be finished & published no later than this weekend.

“Claire! Claire!” Claire doesn’t even realize that Zara is struggling to keep up with her until her assistant’s voice breaks through the sleepy murmur of guests as they file out into the Guest Center of the park, some branching off towards the trams to take them deeper into the park while others ventured into the restaurants for breakfast. Claire stops, takes a deep breath in through her nose and exhales slowly from her mouth. Her mood is not Zara’s fault, she reminds herself. Honestly, it isn’t even Owen’s fault and yet Owen bore the brunt of it nevertheless. She’s annoyed at herself, at her own fears, insecurities and the fact that she can’t bring herself to trust them with Owen. Trusting Owen would be putting control of herself in the hands of someone else and that absolutely terrifies her. Much more than it should, she knows. She knows Owen isn’t controlling — definitely not like her — and he wouldn’t take advantage of her trust. 

Others have and it is always the misdeeds of others that ruin it for everyone else. Ruins it for her.

“Are you ok?” Zara asks when she does finally catch up, looking seemingly out of breath.

“I’m fine.” Claire lies through her teeth with ease. She’d had plenty of practice with lying to Karen and even her parents over the years. Zara, whom didn’t know her half as well, was particularly easy to lie to. “Listen Zara, I need you to ensure that everything is ready for Mr. Grady and I’s ferry to the mainland tonight and our flight tomorrow.”

“I’ve already double checked everything —”

“Then please triple check.” Claire reiterates, her tone sharp and commanding, leaving no room for further argument.

“Ok.” Zara relents, tapping away at her phone as she holds Claire’s work tablet out to her. Claire takes it gently and tucks it between her arm and her ribcage. 

“Claire Dearing.” Mr. Misrani’s voice draws Claire’s attention away from her assistant who takes the opportunity to slip away and get to the assignments Claire had given her.

“Mr. Misrani. Just the person I wanted to see.” Claire offers her boss a smile as she turns to face the man in question as he approaches.

“The first in what is without a doubt a long list, I do not doubt.” Simon laughs and Claire’s smile tightens slightly. “Loosen up, Claire.”

“Yeah, like that’s ever going to happen.” Owen’s voice chimes in with a jibe at her and Claire closes her eyes for a few seconds as she grows acutely aware of his presence at her side. It’s astounding how utterly aware of Owen she is even when she doesn’t wish to be. She struggles between continued annoyance, that creep of fear in her throat, and embarrassment at how she reacted in her suite. 

“Mr. Grady, our brilliant raptor handler.” Claire counts slowly to ten in her head and opens her eyes as Owen leans towards Mr. Misrani where he stands at her side — so very close — to shake her boss’s hand. “Excellent work with our raptor pack. I’m confident that your raptor, Blue, I believe is what you call her, is going to be very popular with our guests.”

“Mr. Misrani, please…” Claire interjects after Owen accepts Mr. Misrani’s praise before he mentions he needs to get to the raptor enclosure and leaves the two of them alone although Claire’s eyes follow him, her gaze averting quickly as Owen glimpses over his shoulder at her. 

“I really have a lot I need to go over with you, Sir. I’ve taken the liberty of printing out a call conference schedule for you. I’ve emailed it to you, as well. I’ve tried to minimize the time tables because Karen will flip but —” Claire stops talking abruptly as Mr. Misrani begins to shake his head.

“No, Claire. It’s called a Holiday for a reason. No work. It’s my park, my dear. I think I can cover overseeing it for a few days.” Claire opens her mouth to argue but smiles tersely instead. 

“Of course, Mr. Misrani.” She concurs reluctantly. “I wasn’t implying —”

“I know Claire. I greatly appreciate everything you do here. This park runs like a smooth, well-oiled machine and that’s because of you. It’s important to take time for yourself. To tend to your needs the way you tend to the needs of every person in this park everyday.” Mr. Misrani tells her gently and reaches for her tablet.

Claire visibly hesitates, fingers curling tighter against it before she relinquishes it to her boss.

“Let me take over today to soothe any doubts you may have,” Mr. Misrani suggests, perceptive to the fact that though she does not mean to be insulting to his ability, she still has doubts. Her job is everything to her and she feels hollow as he relieves her of her duties for the day. “If I need you, I’ll call you.” He promises, side-stepping her and leaving her standing there in the growing throng of crowd that is oblivious to what just transpired.

“Mr. Misrani…what am I supposed to do today?” She peers over her shoulder at her boss who smiles at her.

“Enjoy the park.” With those vague words he disappears into the crowd and Claire turns on her heel and heads back towards the Hilton.

She changes out of her work attire, sifting through the clothes that she did not pack for her trip and picks out a pair of soft stone-washed denim jeans, an olive green mechanic style button up blouse and heeled boots ( because she has a reputation to maintain, after all ). 

As Claire presses the elevator call button for the second time today she realizes that she still has no idea what she’s meant to do.

Enjoy the park?

She _enjoys_ her job.

She’s seen all the attractions, in fact, she’s aided in their conception. She knows all the assets and can name them all like fingers on her hand.

She’s never actually been in a gyrosphere though and she discards her coffee in the nearby trashcan as she heads towards the tram rail. 

 

Except she veers hard left at the last second and towards the Ranger station and walks up to the nearest Ranger.

“Take me to the raptor enclosure.” It’s as if the words fall out of her mouth of their own accord, as if her entire body has just decided for her. Traitorous. Or not traitorous. That was her incorrigible stubbornness talking and she knows it. She wants to apologize to Owen just as much as she doesn’t want to and it’s very conflicting and confusing. The ranger opens the door for her and she climbs in the Jeep, holding onto the handle that she formally dubs “the oh shit handle” as the ranger stomps on the gas, lurching her back into her seat without grace …and she thought Owen’s driving was terrifying.

Claire is half tempted to close her eyes during the drive but kept her composure though she did not waste time exiting the Jeep. She thanks the ranger and sets her side to the raptor enclosure and makes her way towards the stairs that lead up to the catwalk.

She can hear Owen from where he stands on them, giving commands to the raptor squad and pressing his thumb against the clicker to garner their attention when it begins to wander. Likely, she thinks, a hand on the railing as she navigates the stairs in heels, their attention might wander because of her. She steps onto the platform beside Barry but doesn’t move onto the catwalk. 

Claire can hear each rapid breath that Blue who stands at the center of the pack takes. Her sisters call out to her and she responds back, snapping at the one Barry and Owen call Delta.

“Hey! Hey! Blue!” Owen clicks the clicker at her attention goes back to Owen who throws her a dead rat. She catches it and swallows it whole.

Claire’s attention is on the raptor pack who, when Owen drops his hand, take off deeper into their enclosure. She looks up as Owen approaches on the catwalk. Claire straightens her posture, her lips parting as she prepares to speak.

“I thought you really needed to get to work.” She flinches as he turns her own words against her. So he was still angry about it. The show he’d put on for Mr. Misrani had been just that: a show, but Claire assumes he lets his guard down with Barry …though Owen’s partner busied himself with meal preparations for the raptors a few feet away. Owen brushes past her on the platform and something new blossoms in her chest: the heavy sink of rejection.

“Well, I was going to but he told me to take the day off.” Claire explains, following him down the steps. Owen stops at the bottom, blocking her exit off the bottom step. “Look Owen, I’m sorry about this morning —”

“So what, your first thought when you’re given the day off is to come to the raptor enclosure?”

“Owen please! I’m trying to apologize —” Claire grows increasingly frustrated and pushes a stray strand of her red hair out of her face.

“I know.” Owen says then and grins at her, laughing. “I was just giving you a hard time.” 

“Excuse me?” Claire makes an indignant noise and plants her hands on her hips.

“I think it’s cute when you get angry. And your face flushes this really pretty red like when —”

“Ok, that’s enough.” Claire snaps, reigning her control over their conversation before it heads down a path that she does not want Barry to hear; and Claire knows exactly what he was going to say because Owen has this little tell-tale smirk, a mischievous glint to his eyes that tells her he’s about to say something that he knows will fluster her and over the past year she’s became much more susceptible to those cheeky comments.

“Well since you’re here,” Owen motions for her to follow and Claire does against her better judgement. “You can meet the girls.”

Claire opens her mouth to remind him that she’s already met the raptors when he’d rose through the jungle with the pack at his side as they hunted down an asset out of containment.

“Officially.” He corrects himself as if he read her mind. Claireworks to quickly hides the bewilderment she feels on her face.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Claire asks as they trudge into the area of the enclosure where the raptor’s metal muzzles are built into the wall. Claire’s eyes go immediately to Blue, watching as the lead raptor’s third eye-lid sweeps across her amber eye.

“They’re in metal muzzles Claire. Relax.” Owen throws her a lopsided grin over his shoulder as he approaches Blue’s muzzle, running his along her jaw. Blue relaxes and lets out what Claire assumes is an affectionate noise. “Good girl, Blue.” Owen coos to the raptor and motions for Claire to join him.

Tentatively, Claire closes the distance, inching towards Owen, her eyes rapidly scanning Blue for her reactions.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read, left kudos & comments on this. I really appreciate it! <3

Blue appears calm, though Claire wonders how much of that is Owen’s presence. Were Claire to approach her without him, even in the metal cage, Claire gets the feeling that things would not start so smooth. She watches with unbidden fascination as Blue’s nostrils flare, no doubt analyzing her scent. Owen holds his hand out for her’s and Claire hesitates before she holds it out, her heart doing a small flip in her chest as Owen takes her wrist and guides her hand to Blue’s exposed skin.

It’s not the first time that Claire has touched a dinosaur but each time is marveling, and reminds her that they are, as Owen puts it, more than just numbers on a spreadsheet. It reminds her of the first time she’d ever set eyes on one. The memory comes back to her now as her fingers skim the rough hewn skin of Owen’s (favorite) raptor. It had been Claire’s first real day on Isla Nublar, when she’d been an intern at Bright Minds. They were introducing a young triceratops to the herd they’d already had. Claire could not forget the way the earth had trembled beneath their footfalls. It was the first time she’d heard their call. Actually heard a dinosaur for real: the sounds they make still bring goosebumps to her skin, like she’s hearing the song of an archaic god once forgotten but resurrected.

It was the beginning of Claire’s passion for these animals, it was the start of the path that led her here: from intern to running Simon Misrani’s park. 

It was her job to ensure that all the guests felt the same goosebumps she feels now, the same breathless and incredible wonder the first time they set eyes upon their first dinosaur.

Blue makes a noise, startling Claire out of memory lane and she goes to recoil her hand from the raptor, unsure if it was a aggressive noise or not. Blue’s breathing grows rapid before it slows, and Owen’s larger hand splays flat over Claire’s own to keep it there. “Good girl, Blue.” He coos to the beta. “She’s curious about you.” Owen tells Claire and she is, for the third time this morning, acutely aware of how close he is. Her shoulder is pressed against his chest and Claire’s head cants ever so slightly in Owen’s direction. She is intrigued to hear that Blue is curious about her. It was a lot more than Claire expected, and part of her can’t help but wonder if Blue’s curiosity has less to do with her and more to do with the fact that she, more than likely, smells like Owen. 

Raptors were the second most intelligent species on the planet so Claire does not doubt that Blue understands the concept of what they are to one another, even if Blue’s understanding is much more primal. 

Claire’s heart jumps into her throat as the raptor’s head butts against her hand though the metal muzzle that constrains her does not offer much mobility.

“She’s incredible.” Claire breathes, taking a step back when Owen drops his hand. She doesn’t wish to push the boundaries of the raptor’s patience with her. Owen offers Claire another lopsided grin and gestures to the cage where Blue, in all of her six foot glory, appears to study them from between the heavy steel bars that separate her from them.

 

Claire and to her greater surprise Owen — who adamantly assures and reassures ( again ) her when she rises the protest that Barry can ( and will have to he pointedly interjects ) handle the raptors — spend the day enjoying the park as guests. Admittedly, extremely knowledgable guests; and even more surprising then the fact that Owen had spontaneously joined her, Claire actually enjoyed her day. 

“Hey, let’s watch the T-Rex’s last feeding.” Owen jerks his thumb towards the t-rex’s enclosure. Claire’s eyes flicker towards paddock nine and she pushes the sleeve of her shirt up and checks her watch. “Claire…” Owen groans.

“Owen we have to be on the last ferry out of here.” Claire hesitates because if they didn’t head towards the docks now they would be cutting their time margin down to twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to fight the crowds from paddock nine down to the docks. Not to mention the ferry had a capacity limit. If they reached that limit guests would be turned away with an offer of a free night’s stay in the Hilton. Which was great, that was a great failsafe except when a visit to Karen was involved. Karen would be livid if Claire wasn’t on the plane. Beyond livid she would be upset and Claire doesn’t want to deal with her sister’s disappointment and endless guilt trips.

“C’mon Claire. I know that sense of adventure is in there somewhere.” Owen ribs at her, grinning wide.

“I don’t have a sense of adventure where Karen is concerned. We can’t miss the ferry or our flight. I’ve broken a lot of promises to Karen and I’m working on …not doing that.” Claire argues and explains to Owen who rises is eyebrows at her. Owen looks at her as if he’s daring her and Claire’s shakes her head. “No. No! Let’s just go get on the ferry.” She wasn’t budging on this one and eventually her stubbornness won. Owen agreed as Claire calls Zara on her phone. She presses the iPhone to her ear as a group of teenage girls walk past her, wearing varieties of t-shirts all depicting the t-rex. Despite her age she’s one of heir biggest attractions. One of the girl’s shirt had ‘yasss queen’ in fancy lettering beneath the t-rex’s headshot and another had the t-rex wearing a flower crown. A third girl’s shirt read ‘Rexy: Queen since 1993’. Claire feels her brows furrow and she almost doesn’t realize that Zara is calling her name over and over from the other side of the phone connection.

“Claire!”

“Oh, sorry Zara, I was …distracted.” Owen snorts beside her and she swats at him.

“Well, I’m going to see Queen Rexy. You might want to join me, but if you don’t I’ll meet you on the ferry.” Claire feels her face fall in disbelief as she watches Owen walk away from him.

“Owen! Owen!” She hisses after him, apologizing to Zara who sounds as if she’s becoming increasingly frustrated.

It was mutual, Claire thinks as she hurries after Owen.

“Is everything ready for Owen and I?” She asks as she climbs the stairs, murmuring ‘excuse me’s’ as she weaves her way through the people, still trying to catch up to Owen.

“Everything is set to go. Your bags are already loaded onto Ferry 3. Remember. Ferry 3, Dock 5.”

“Ferry 3, Dock 5. Thanks Zara.” Claire ends the call, sliding up to Owen’s side. The log bridge they stand in is cramped, and Claire presses closer to the glass and Owen, feeling like she’d been packed tightly into a can of sardines. The crane lowers the steer down and the voices — little more than white noise — all quiet and a hush grows over the ground. The ground trembles, the log bridge tremors with the first step and a collected gasp ripples from the crowd. A second footfall causes goosebumps to rise along Claire’s arms and her breath catches in her throat as the thick foliage rustles. 

The steer lets out a call, low and sorrowful.

Claire swallows hard and instinctively reaches for Owen’s hand as the T-Rex’s head appears out of the foliage and she lets out her infamous scream and charges towards the bridge. Her movements are slower with age but she’s still impressive, can still strike marvel and a fear into Claire. It looks like she’s going to crash into the bridge and Claire spares a second to peek at Owen from the corner of her eye, noting the smirk he gives her before his hand closes around her’s as the t-rex stops and takes a giant bite of the steer sending blood and bits of carrion splattering as she rears her head back.

“Alright,” Owen draws, tugging Claire away from the view glass. “Let’s go catch the ferry.”

“Zara said our luggage was on Ferry 3 at Dock 5.” Claire repeatsthe information her assistant gave her as they step out into the evening heat and found their way to the ferry without too much trouble from crowds of people looking to head back to the mainland of Costa Rica.

As the ferry pulls away from the dock and night settles around them, Claire moves from her place at Owen’s side to the railing at the hull. Her hand wraps around the cold railing watching as Isla Nublar gradually disappears in a growing cloud of fog and mist and swears, as she closes her eyes and appreciates the cool kiss of the salty sea brine across her face, that she hears the dinosaurs calling out.

Isla Nublar’s been her home for eight years and though she knows she’ll return to it in a couple of days Claire already starts to feel homesick.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this! As I said via a Tumblr post: I had some car troubles last weekend and my anxiety over them left me drained and unmotivated to write anything. I'm writing Chapter Five now so if I finish it this weekend I'll post it as well. As usual, a huge thank you to everyone who reads, leaves kudos and comments on this. It's encouraging and heart-warming! <3

Claire gives a start as Owen gently nudges her with his shoulder. Her hand is pressed against his chest and there’s an embarrassing drool spot on his shirt where she’s used his shoulder as a pillow during their flight. Still, she’s a bit disoriented, her brow furrowing as she tries to shake the last vestiges of sleep from her mind.

“Hey,” Owen’s voice is soft, quieted so he doesn’t disturb any of the other passengers in the cabin. “We landed.” Owen brushes his finger along her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear as Claire blinks sleepily at him. Slowly, her brain processes everything and she looks away, out the window to the runway as the plane pulls up to the terminal they would be disembarking from.

Carefully, Claire stretches, narrowly avoiding smacking Owen in the face, rolling her neck to work out any of the kinks that might’ve formed.

“I’m sorry I drooled on you.” Claire bites the inside of her lip and feels her cheeks flush with a blush as Owen pulls at the hem of his shirt to examine the drool stain.

“It’s ok. I know I’m incredibly handsome and you just couldn’t help yourself.” Claire swats playfully at his arm, snorting with laughter. While it was true that he was incredibly handsome Claire didn’t necessarily want to entertain the conceited comment.

“Did you sleep at all?” She ask, changing the subject, avoiding the lopsided grin Owen was giving her as the people around them sleepily rose from their seats. 

“A little.” Owen responds, leaning over her to look out the window, his grip tight on the armrest.

“Hey,” Claire rubs her thumb against his knuckles, bone white from the pressure he applies to the armrest.

“I don’t like having so many people to my back.” He admits to her, voice low, strained. Had he been on edge the entire plane ride? Claire feels her mouth tug into a frown as she gives his hand a reassuring squeeze. It was easy for her to forget, at times, that Owen was a former Navy Seal. He didn’t talk about his time during the military — likely because he couldn’t — and Owen’s adapted himself so that it’s not immediately present. He blends in well.

“Well, we can disembark soon.” Claire assures him as she looks up and sees that the other passengers are disembarking single file off the plane. It was easier to wait until the bulk of the people got off the plane, anyway, rather than trying to fight your way off and hope you don’t elbow someone in the face attempting to retrieve your carry on from overhead.

When he had room to stand Owen stood up and pulled down their carry-on’s — which was all either of them brought. He shouldered his backpack as if it were as light as a feather despite that Claire knew it was heavy and pulled the handle up on her rolling suitcase for her.

“Thank you.” Claire takes the handle from him and glimpses up at his face. Her body is flush with his as she tries to navigate around him in the small aisle way from where he stands with no inclination to move back to give her adequate space. Claire gives a soft clear of her throat and takes the lead, smiling at the pilot, co-pilot and assembly of stewards and stewardesses, being sure to thank them as she steps off the plane and onto the tunnel. The cold greets her immediately and for the briefest moment she falters. She hadn’t even considered bringing a coat. Wasn’t even sure she _had_ a winter coat. Winter coats were not a necessity when you lived in Central America. Owen steps beside her and she habitually reaches for his arm, tucking her hand against the crook of his arm. 

“We don’t have winter coats.” Claire points out to him as they descend the tunnel and step into the warm airport.

“Well it’s not like it gets cold in Central America.” Owen says, mirroring her earlier thought as they head towards Customs. Claire can’t help the dour frown that she feels tugging at the edges of her lips. It’s not like her to not think ahead, to plan for all the contingencies.

“I can’t believe it didn’t even occur to me…” She trails off as she fishes her passport and driver’s license out a zipped pocket of her suitcase and hands them to the security guard as Owen grabs them plastic bins for their bags and shoes. Owen scoops up her suitcase and puts it in the first bin as Claire takes off her heels, her watch, her rings and earrings and sits them neatly in the second bin, stepping up to the x-ray machine.

“Are you seriously beating yourself up over it?” Owen asks as she holds up her hands as instructed and it takes a quick x-ray.

“Please step out, ma’am.” The security officer on the other side instructs her and she does as told, straightening her shirt before she grabs her bins and slides them down the long table to make room for Owen’s. She pulls her suitcase out of the first bin and puts her shoes and then her jewelry back on as Owen steps through the x-ray machine.

“Hold up sir,” Claire turns to watch over her shoulder as the security officer stops Owen. “Hands up. I have to search you.” Owen looks puzzled but does as is instructed, holding still as he’s patted down.

“Navy, huh?” The security guard manning the x-ray machine murmurs as he looks at Owen’s ID and passport.

“I served twenty years in the Marines, myself. You sailors are assholes.” The Marine laughs as Owen takes his passport and ID, handing them to Claire who takes them with a perplexed look at the former Marine. She slides his documents behind her’s in her suitcase pocket and zips it closed as Owen laughs. A deep, albeit mocking belly laugh.

“Seal, actually,” Owen corrects as he takes his shoes and puts them on. “And just remember Jarhead that it’s the Navy that signed your paychecks.”

The Security guard that patted Owen down lets out a hearty laugh. “You had that coming Rodriguez.” He chortles.

Claire watches with a perplexed sort of awe for a few moments longer, hesitating as both security guards shake Owen’s hand after he shoulders his backpack.

“What just happened back there?” Claire asks as Owen falls easily in step with her as they head towards baggage claim. Neither of them have baggage to claim but it’s where Karen said she’d wait for them.

“Ah,” Owen sighs grinning from ear to ear as he places his hand on the small of her back. “It’s an old military tradition to bullshit soldiers from the other branches. It’s not usually malicious. Just a …friendly competition, y’know? Keeps moral up and all that.” Claire makes a contemplative noise and gives a curt nod of her head. She doesn’t understand, of course, but she finds it admirable ( in a way that also makes her want to roll her eyes ) that they can find camaraderie in complete strangers just because they served in the military.

“Claire!” Claire pauses as she hears her name and then lets go of her suitcase to step forward as Karen hurries towards her, arms outstretched. “Oh my god.” Claire’s arms wrap around her sister in time to feel them shaking.

“Are you crying?” Claire asks, letting out a soft noise as Karen holds her tighter, all but crushing Claire to her.

“Yes! I haven’t seen you in eight years. Eight!” Karen sniffles.

“Owen!” A duo of voices chimes in and Claire watches as Gray and Zach flock to Owen whom has moved to the side to give Karen and her space.

“Ok Karen,” Claire taps her sister on the shoulder. “Honestly. It’s ok. You can let go of me now.” Claire gives a breathless laugh and Karen hugs her even tighter for a second before she pulls back.

“Look at you.” Karen’s eyelashes shimmer with tears and Claire feels a lump lodge in her throat. She clears it softly and looks to Owen who is in conversation with her nephews, animating with his hands about whatever the three of them were deep in conversation with.

“Karen there’s someone I’d like you to meet,” Claire broaches the subject, grateful when Karen allows the change. “Karen this is Owen. Owen, this is my sister, Karen.” Claire says loudly, grabbing the trio’s attention.

“So you’re the infamous Owen Grady.” Karen greets Owen as her teenage boys step back and turn to Claire, surprising her when she gets a hug from each of them. “Wow,” Karen breathes. “You’re right Claire he is a stud.”

“ _Kar-en_!” Claire hisses from between her teeth, rolling her eyes as she catches Owen’s lopsided grin and the mischievous glint that steals across his eyes. Zach and Gray make noises of disgust in the backs of their throats and Claire wants the floor to swallow her up. She’d called Owen a stud once when she’d first told Karen about him on the phone and she might’ve been a little tipsy on a of obligatory champagne to celebrate the Indominus Rex’s success. Of course, in true sister fashion, Karen has no intentions of letting her live it down.

“Oh, here. We brought you coats. Owen…Scott’s coat might be a little small on you,” Karen frowns as Zach hands him the coat, her eyes trailing over Owen’s upper torso. “but he’s no raptor wrangler.”

“Trainer. No one wrangles raptors.” Claire corrects Karen with a bit more sharpness than she intends. Owen snickers at her and Claire scowls looking away. She takes the coat — no doubt one of Karen’s spares — with a murmured ‘thanks’ and puts it on, zipping it up. 

Claire grabs her suitcase and Owen falls into step with her as her sister and nephews walk a few paces ahead.

“Stud, huh?”

“Don’t be arrogant about it,” Claire clicks her tongue at him in disapproval. “It was one time and I’d had a few drinks.”

“I thought your diet didn’t allow tequila.”

“It doesn’t and it wasn’t tequila. It was obligatory champagne to celebrate the Indominus’s success.” She explains. “It would have looked bad if I hadn’t had a drink with Mr. Misrani and the Sponsors.” Claire defends herself, gnashing her teeth together as Owen chuckles deep and low in his throat.

“You definitely owe me a tequila date now.” Owen murmurs. She doesn’t argue. It’s not much use anyway and maybe one tequila date wouldn’t hurt. They step out of the airport and into the freezing parking garage. Claire habitually gravitates closer to Owen for warmth.

“C’mon Owen!” Gray calls excitedly over his shoulder.

“Yeah, we want to hear about the raptor squad.” Owen raises his brows at Claire and she smiles gesturing for him to catch up with her nephews as Karen hangs back, hugging her coat tighter to herself. As Owen falls in step with her nephews, Claire looks to Karen who falls in step with her.

“Looks like you get shot-gun Claire-bear.” Karen grins and wraps her arm around Claire’s shoulder in another hug as they walked towards her mini-van.

“Just like old times.” Claire says with a soft smile as Zach and Gray launch into a verbal fight over who got to sit beside Owen.

**Author's Note:**

> You can stay tuned with novel updates via [tumblr](http://fallofatlas.tumblr.com/tagged/claire-dearing%3A-evolution).


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